Page 10 - DMEA Week 04 2020

DMEA POLICY DMEA
Sudan reports motor fuel shortages
SUDAN
At least four cities
in Sudan have experienced problems with fuel supplies since mid-January: El Obeid, Khartoum, Nyala and Port Sudan.
IN Sudan, at least four cities have experienced problems with fuel supplies since mid-January. According to Radio Dabanga, fuel retailers have had difficulty meeting demand in El Obeid, Khartoum, Nyala and Port Sudan.
In all four cities, filling stations have run short. As a result, motorists seeking to refill their tanks at authorised retail outlets have had to queue up and wait, and other drivers have had to navigate the resulting traffic jams.
Meanwhile, black-market prices for fuel have shot upwards. Drivers in Nyala told Dabanga Radio on January 21 that unlicensed sellers were charging SDP220 ($4.86) per gallon for gaso- line, almost five times the rate of SDP45 ($0.99) set for authorised retailers. They also said that black-market diesel was commanding a price of SDP125 ($2.76) per gallon, compared with the official price of SDP35 ($0.77).
The shortages have sparked street demonstra- tions in Khartoum and Port Sudan. They have also fuelled suspicion of state authorities, with some protesters casting blame on government
bureaucrats and allies of the previous regime led by Omar Bashir.
In Nyala, for example, local activists told Radio Dabanga that Sudanese security forces were responsible for the shortages. They claimed that state security personnel were distributing only 900 gallons (3,410 litres) of fuel per day to each filling station, or 60% of the total 1,500 gal- lons (5,700 litres) due.
For their part, activists in El Obeid claimed that government bureaucracies had orchestrated the supply crisis. After all, said one resident, “[they] own most of the city’s petrol stations.”
As of press time, it was not clear whether con- ditions had improved. On January 24, Sudan’s Finance Minister Ibrahim El Badawi indicated that the government hoped reforms would help settle the matter. In the second half of 2020, he said, Khartoum will launch a programme designed to eliminate fuel price subsidies. This will allow the government to save $400mn per year and use its resources to support citizens more effectively, he said.™
REFINING
Militants strike Syrian oil refinery
SYRIA
It is the third attack on Syria’s oil and gas industry in less than a year.
MILITANTS have attacked Syria’s Banias oil refinery near the Mediterranean coast, deploy- ing divers to plant explosives on underwater pipelines, the country’s oil ministry said on Jan- uary 27.
Syrian state media have said that technicians are evaluating the damage and making repairs. But the extent of this damage is unclear. Petro- leum Minister Ali Ghanem told state television that there would there no disruption to the refin- ery’s operation.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack – the third targeting Syria’s oil and gas industry in less than a year. However, govern- ment-run news agency SANA claimed it was carried out by “terrorists.”
The affected pipelines are used to bring oil to the facility
“The aim of the attack is to cease [oil] imports into Syria,” Ghanem said, noting that his minis- try had prepared plans for such events. The Ban- ias refinery is capable of processing up to 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil.
Syria is already suffering oil shortages, mak- ing it all the more vulnerable to such attacks.
Western sanctions have made importing oil difficult, while many of its oilfields are now con- trolled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the country’s east.
Before the Syrian conflict began in 2011, the country exported around half of the 350,000 bpd of oil it produced, but its output is now only 24,000 bpd.
Sabotage attacks damaged five underwater pipelines off Banias in June last year, with the oil ministry again blaming unidentified terrorists. And in December, rockets were fired at Syria’s main Homs refinery, causing minor damage, according to the government, but disrupting production. The Homs plant can handle up to 120,000 bpd of crude.
What oil Syria does get mostly comes from Iran and Russia, as well as, ironically, from the oilfields that have been seized by Kurdish forces. Damascus is unlikely to reclaim these fields anytime soon. Despite withdrawing most of its forces from Syria, the US has kept some troops there to guard the fields, to avoid them falling into the hands of other actors, such as the Syrian government, Russia or extremist groups. ™
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w w w. N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 04 30•January•2020